Hike #385 11/16/8
11/16/8 Valley Forge/Phoenixville with Jason Itell, "Commando Tom" Petrucci, Jim "Mr. Buckett" Mathews, Laura Cunningham, Jason Kumpas, Carolyn Wigmore, Kyle Zalinsky
Old steel mill ruins, Phoenixville
The group at a ruin in Valley Forge
Former Port Kennedy Train Station, Valley Forge, PA
This is an old bridge pier out on the Schuykill River at Valley Forge
Along the Schuykill River
Along the Schuykill at Valley Forge
Bridge and creek confluence with the Schuykill at Valley Forge
Underpass in Valley Forge
Underpass in Valley Forge
The bridge was obviously widened at one point
Old edge of the old railroad culvert in Valley Forge
Walkway underpass in Valley Forge
Historic home in Valley Forge
Historic building in Valley Forge
Apparently recently unearthed old well in Valley Forge
An old well in Valley Forge
Valley Forge PA
Beginning
Abandoned bottling plant in Valley Forge
Abandoned bottling plant in Valley Forge
Abandoned bottling plant in Valley Forge
Abandoned bottling plant in Valley Forge
Abandoned bottling plant in Valley Forge
Abandoned bottling plant in Valley Forge
Abandoned bottling plant in Valley Forge
Abandoned bottling plant in Valley Forge
Abandoned bottling plant in Valley Forge
Abandoned bottling plant in Valley Forge along the Horse-Shoe Trail
Seasonal view on the Horse-Shoe Trail. I think this might by Mt. Misery.
This odd looking place is some sort of art center along Horse-Shoe Trail
Swing along the Horse-Shoe Trail route near it's beginning in Chester County
Group mirror shot along the Horse-Shoe Trail
Mirror shot on Horse-Shoe Trail
Horse-Shoe Trail view
A bunch of old farm equipment seen along Horse-Shoe Trail
Horse-Shoe Trail in southern Chester County
Rail line near Devault PA
Abandoned rail line north of Devault
Group shot on the abandoned rail line south of Phoenixville
Group shot on the abandoned rail line south of Phoenixville
Abandoned rail line group shot south of Phoenixville
Abandoned railroad south of Phoenixville
Abandoned Pickering Creek trestle south of Phoenixville
Abandoned Pickering Creek trestle south of Phoenixville
Abandoned Pickering Creek trestle south of Phoenixville
Pickering Creek from the abandoned trestle
Abandoned Pickering Creek trestle
On the abandoned Pickering Creek trestle
Another old rail trestle over a gravel road south of Phoenixville
Signal bridge south of Phoenixville, I think over State Road, Pickering PA
Kyle on a signal tower, now defunct.
Kyle on a signal in Pickering
Kyle on a defunct signal
Abandoned Reading Railroad branch in Pickering
Don't know what this is...
No clue
Bamboo along the old rail line in Pickering
"I HAVE IT THE PELICAN!!!!!" I was being so silly with this thing, making prophesies while holding it up, screaming along the right of way
This was the likely northbound connector track on the way to Phoenixville Tunnel, which broke off of the line we'd been hiking just northeast of Nutt Road.
Pumpkin hunting. SMASH@
Approaching a trestle on the old rail line
Abandoned rail line
The railroad crossing French Creek
About to smash the pumpkin
Crossing French Creek and the long trestle at the old Phoenixville Steel Mill
Trestle at Phoenixville Steel Mill
Another old rail bridge, lower level, across French Creek
Crossing the long trestle over French Creek and the steel mill site
Former steel mill site from the trestle
Former steel mill site from the trestle
Crossing the long trestle over French Creek and the steel mill site
The long trestle over French Creek and the steel mill site
Long trestle at steel mill site in Phoenixville
Old steel mill site
Old steel mill site
Old steel mill site
Old steel mill site
Old steel mill site
Old steel mill site
Old steel mill site
Abandoned
Abandoned
Abandoned
Abandoned
Abandoned
Abandoned
Abandoned
Abandoned building of some sort...a pump house?
Abandoned building
Abandoned building
Pipes and shtuff in the old building
Machinery in the floor of one of the old buildings on the steel mill site
Abandoned
Abandoned
Abandoned
Abandoned
Abandoned
Machinery or something in one of the old steel mill site buildings
Abandoned
Abandoned
Old rail line in Phoenixville
Abandoned Phoenixville Tunnel
Approaching Phoenixville Tunnel
Abandoned Phoenixville Tunnel
Abandoned Phoenixville Tunnel. Of course Kyle and I are right of front. November, but first in line trudging through the silt and muck to get to the exciting ruin ahead.
Approaching Phoenixville Tunnel
Approaching Phoenixville Tunnel
Abandoned Phoenixville Tunnel
Abandoned Phoenixville Tunnel
Abandoned Phoenixville Tunnel: 1884
Abandoned Phoenixville Tunnel
Abandoned Phoenixville Tunnel
Abandoned Phoenixville Tunnel
Abandoned Phoenixville Tunnel
Abandoned Phoenixville Tunnel
Abandoned Phoenixville Tunnel
Abandoned Phoenixville Tunnel
Abandoned Phoenixville Tunnel
Abandoned Phoenixville Tunnel
Abandoned Phoenixville Tunnel
Abandoned Phoenixville Tunnel
Abandoned Phoenixville Tunnel
Abandoned Phoenixville Tunnel
Abandoned Phoenixville Tunnel
Abandoned Phoenixville Tunnel
Abandoned Phoenixville Tunnel
Abandoned Phoenixville Tunnel
Abandoned Phoenixville Tunnel
Abandoned Phoenixville Tunnel
Abandoned Phoenixville Tunnel
Abandoned Phoenixville Tunnel
Abandoned Phoenixville Tunnel
Abandoned Phoenixville Tunnel
Abandoned Phoenixville Tunnel
Abandoned Phoenixville Tunnel
Abandoned rail line looking north from Phoenixville Tunnel
Abandoned Phoenixville Tunnel
Abandoned Phoenixville Tunnel
I saw a hole in the wall of the tunnel, which was of a brick construction, and was amazed to see that it was hollow! The brock or masonry did not reach the wall of the tunnel itself in all spots! It's possible to crawl inside the tunnel behind it's framework!
Another shot from within the framework of the tunnel
Abandoned Phoenixville Tunnel
Trudging through tunnel much on our way back to the rest of the planned route.
Abandoned car near Phoenixville tunnel
Abandoned rail line heading south in Phoenixville
I believe this is the refinery in Phoenixville, with new bridge construction in view
Abandoned Reading Railroad
New bridge construction in Phoenixville
Phoenixville, I think the refinery
Phoenixville refinery?
Phoenixville PA
Phoenixville Viaduct over Schuykill River in Phoenixville. Had we continued on the railroad, we'd have crossed that bridge.
Schuykill Canal
Old Schuykill Canal
Schuykill Canal spillway
Abandoned building along Schuykill Canal
Abandoned building along Schuykill Canal
Schuykill Canal
Ruins along Schuykill Canal
Ruins along the Schuykill Canal
Ruins along Schuykill Canal
Along Schuykill Canal
Ruins along Schuykill Canal
Along Schuykill Canal
Along Schuykill Canal
Commando Tom and his pumpkin
More of my mismatched shoes
Restroom in Valley Forge
For my next hike, we would do another hike which would be a connection to previous Valley Forge PA trips, and the route was arranged by my good friend Jason Itell. We would do a 25 mile loop beginning at Valley Forge. Joining us this time would also be Shelly Janes, Ron Phelps, Kyle Zalinsky, Jim "Mr. Buckett" Mathews, "Commando Tom" Petrucci, Jason Kumpas, Laura Cunningham, Larry Butler, Carolyn ?, Irina Kulikovskaya, and Russ Moyer. The starting point was the same parking area where we'd met before in Valley Forge, both for the Perkiomen Trail hike and for the hike to Lafayette Hills. We started walking along a tree line where there were signs that read that this area was contaminated. I forget the story behind it, but Jason told me something about the water being contaminated. We walked a short distance to the Schuykill River where there was a railroad station, abandoned. Jason explained that this station had only one passenger, that some guy got a lot of signitures to have a station put in at Valley Forge, but he was the only one to ever ride it, and when he died they closed it (1). We continued walking an unofficial trail along the Schuykill that Jason had found, with nice views of the river. We even saw some sort of small Heron out there (2). There was a wide area along the river which I assumed must have, or at least may have been part of the former Schuykill Navigation Canal. It was a wide enough shelf for it. Further on, it was more of just a small hillsiding trail along the river (3) before it led out to a stream confluence and an arch culvert under the adjacent railroad tracks (3a-6). It had obviously been widened from it's original stone structure with concrete over the years. We headed underneath, then up to some historic structures including Washington's Headquarters. We also found a giant old well out in the middle of a yard, curiously not covered over or even blocked to keep people from falling in (7-8). From here, we began the Horseshoe Trail, one of the long distance trails I have long wanted to hike (9). It took us through an area of some historic structures, slowly ascending on old woods roads and passing a cool old masonry building (10-13b). We exited the woods road and the foot path switchbacked up a hillside with a nice seasonal view to what I think was the northwest (14). The trail took us along the backs of some houses and followed some roads briefly, passing by an odd house along the road which was the home of some famous artist of some sort that some of the group had heard of (15). We followed the road to an intersection where there was a swing hanging on to a pipe by a thread...somehow it managed to hold Commando Tom (16). We also took pictures into a turn mirror (17,17a). The trail led us into the woods, and along a back yard where we took a break. I think this place was called Mt Misery at one time, maybe still is. We eventually came out along a road, and though the trail followed the roads, it still managed to stay just barely into the woods or on a wide grassy area which I thought was really nice. There were also some nice views from the roads (18). We continued along the road, jumping with wreckless abandon off the roads every time a car went by, and eventually turned off the road onto a foot path. We passed some old farm equipment (19) and then began to descend to an abandoned railroad (20,21). We left the Horseshoe Trail at this point, and began to follow this railroad, with tracks still in place, but badly overgrown. We followed the old railroad, stopping for a group shot at a fallen tree (22-23). Jason, Commando Tom, and I took turns using Jason's brush clearer knife to take out some of the weeds (23aa).
We soon reached a trestle over a river and Rt 29. The trestle was pretty cool, and we continued across parallel with Buckwalter Road (24-28). When we crossed another small trestle on a bridge (29) and then came to a grade crossing where Kyle Z climbed the defunct signal tower (30-31a). We continued along the rail bed, which got more overgrown than it had been yet (32-33), and we were alongside some sort of trailer park with a lot of barking dogs. I found a weird wooden sculpture of a pelican which I carried with me to the next road at a place called Wilmer (33a). I left the thing on the porch of the first building we came to. We took a side trip to a small mini mart where I got some chocolate milk, and most everyone got some food. We hung out briefly, then continued on the old railroad. We passed along the way a former spur line, but I don't know where it would have gone (34). Along the way also, Commando Tom found a pumpkin, which he carried with him to the next trestle and dropped it off (35-40). Even got a video! This trestle was the longest one of the day, and it's a curiosity that there was'nt just a fill put in rather than a trestle (41, notice Kyle had a giant sign stuck in his pack). The trestle seemed to go on and on, till finally we reached the other side. There were some ruins and another secondary abandoned railroad below us to the southeast (42-47). We made our way down from the tracks (48) and then to the ruins of an old steel mill site I think it was with a giant wheel and a couple buildings (49-64a). The one building had a missing floor with all sorts of equipment, and insulators in the roof area as if telegraph lines came right through the building. We soon turned back and followed another abandoned railroad grade heading north back under the bridge we had come down from (65). We followed this line across Mowere Road, then north to the abandoned Phoenixville Tunnel. It was very wet approaching the tunnel, and I of course got my feet wet. Jason Kumpas and I were first to get into the tunnel. There was a major cave in a short distance in, but mostly we could get through it easily. The rails had never been removed from the tunnel as well. Most of us went through and back (66-85). Someone pointed out a small hole in the wall to the east side, and so I crawled in to have a look, and to my surprise it was hollow between the solid rock and the framework (86,87) with enough room to crawl through! After looking around we exited the tunnel (88) and lumbered through the muck (88a) back the way we came. We also found another abandoned car (89). In the tunnel, Ron realized he had forgotten his digital camera, so he had to go back to the steel mill area to find it without us. Laura, Irina, Carolyn, and Amish Paul cut out early, while the rest of us continued back along the rail bed to the long trestle where we met back up with Ron with his camera. We climbed back up the trestle to continue on that railway heading east through the town of Phoenixville (90-92). There was a serious new road bridge under construction when we went by (93). We also saw an old railroad station (94). While in town, we also took a side trip to an old bridge which was now abandoned over a creek (95). We made our way to the Schuykill River yet again and crossed on Rt 29/Bridge Street bridge (96). On the other side, we were able to get on more of the old Schuykill Canal following it down stream (97-99). There was an abandoned house along the way (100) in addition to the frame of an old stone building (101-102d). As we walked, both Kyle Z and Commando Tom found more pumpkins to smash, and we yet again took more videos (103-103c).
The canal itself abruptly ended all of a sudden, and we continued on along the paved Schuykill River Trail downstream in the dark. The trail followed closely to where the canal once went, in a section called the Oakes Reach. We walked the trail to Oakes, where we'd last visited while doing the Perkiomen Trail. We followed the trail to the bridge over the Schuykill we'd used before heading back to the parking area at Valley Forge. We all used the restrooms (105,106) and then hid behind the building from Mr. Buckett to see if he would notice we were missing, but he instead layed down in the car and fell asleep! We tried to freak him out by all running a lap around the parking lot, but I think we got more of a kick out of it than he did. We all went to dinner at a nearby little bar and grill Jason knew about.
The original Pumpkin Hunters
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